Ⅱ. Science Teaching in Germany

Regina Manitz-Schaefer

1. Introduction

A main goal of school teaching today, internationally, is a new kind of general education leading young people to international, interdisciplinary and interprofessional flexibility (Schaefer & Yoshioka 2000, 14-16). In an era of globalization and acceleration in science, technology, economy, commerce, politics, and growing uncertainty and risk on the working market this goal is becoming more and more meaningful to the next generation.

Which contribution to achieving such a „flexibility goal“ does the present German school system offer?

The question is being scrutinized in a research project reported here on the ground of 3 selected concepts from biology („nutrition“), chemistry („metal“), and physics („air pressure“). These concepts play a vital role in everyday life, and it is being studied here which part school takes in their development and understanding.

To interpret the results properly it is necessary to have some knowledge about the German school system and the situation of teaching in this country.

2. The German school system

In Germany, after re-union of its Eastern and Western part in 1990, there are now 16 „Bundesländer“ (corresponding, in some way, to Japanese „prefectures“) with full educational autonomy. In spite of a high variability among the Länder regarding syllabi, textbooks, teacher training, there is still a common basic structure in the overall school system called „gegliedertes Schulsystem“ (multi-channel schooling system). The first 4 to 6 years are comprehensive for all students („Grundschule“ = elementary school) but then follows a splitting-up into either „Hauptschule“, „Realschule“ (middle school) or „Gymnasium“, according to different abilities and inclinations of the students. (In comprehensive schools which exist in parallel in many areas, this differentiation is realized school-internally).

The Hauptschule branch ends up with 9, the Realschule branch with 10, and the Gymnasium branch with 13 years (in some East-German Bundesländer with 12). In East-Germany Hauptschule and Realschule are frequently combined to a „Regelschule“ (regular school) or „Mittelschule“ (middle school) leading to a two-channelled school system.

According to the educational autonomy of the Bundesländer teaching contents are not the same everywhere in Germany. Also time-tables vary from Bundesland to Bundesland. This pertains in particular to science subjects; biology, chemistry and physics are not being taught in the same grades and not with the same number of lessons. This naturally results in considerable differences in scientific literacy of citizens within the same nation (probably one reason of the just „medium“ results of German students documented in the TIMS study!).

Especially problematic in the German school system is the rule of free choice of one science subject in the upper secondary level of the Gymnasium and complete cancelling of the two others. This rule was started in West-Germany in the 70ies (and „exported“ to East-Germany in the 90ies replacing there a permeating 3-subject science practice). The rule puts emphasis on scientific methodology rather than contents (which in fact was an excellent idea at the beginning), but with the erroneous assumption one science subject alone would be sufficient for learning this methodology, and ignoring the fact that methods and contents differ considerably between physical sciences on one side and life sciences on the other.

Students in all Germany now specialize on one science subject (mostly biology) and skip the two others. As a consequence, there is a drastic drawback of basic scientific literacy in Germany and hence of a deeper understanding of scientific (also biological) phenomena. This, in turn, reduces interdisciplinary flexibility instead of increasing it, as claimed above.

3. Knowledge versus understanding?

Science curricula in German schools, in particular in the Gymnasium (on the upper level: in the one subject chosen) are strongly overloaded with contents. Still to-day many science teachers regard a high amount of (sometimes just verbal) knowledge of their students as a high-ranking outcome of teaching. They do not consider enough a deeper understanding of the concepts under study, not even of basic concepts like energy, order, information, structure, system, etc. In the upper secondary grades some teachers seem to have the ambition to train their students up to some kind of university level like „B.Sc.“ .

Educational research, however, like the present project, repeatedly proves that this kind of „extensive training“ is of short duration only.

In this project we demonstrate by a modified multiple-choice test called „KS test“ (knowledge & sources) what we mean with „deeper understanding“ of scientific knowledge. We also present model definitions on the FA/ FD test sheets prepared for the collaborating teachers. It is shocking to read in the following report by G. Schaefer on FA and FD results how very few upper grade students in Germany are really able to formulate definitions of such a kind constructed from appropriate components.

Interesting in this connection is the fact that some particles of the package of knowledge taught in school – e.g. scientific concepts, universal constants, formulas – turn up again in free associations, but not so in free definitions where they would be properly placed. They apparently are just memorized, but not understood. Thus the old pedagogical rule „less is sometimes more“ seems highly relevant for future science teaching in Germany. However, for this in-depth approach and careful reduction of contents both teacher trainers and teachers need a special training in the skill (and knowledge) of „didactic reduction“.

4. „Knowledge dissemination“ or „education“?

Teachers are most essential factors (possibly the most essential one) in education. In Germany just now there is a lively discussion about role, self-understanding and training of teachers. The two main roles of a teacher: „knowledge disseminator“ on one side, and „educator“ on the other, are sometimes exclusively opposed to each other, although in practice they are inclusive, complementary roles and form one whole.

Up to now science teachers in Germany tend to regard themselves more as disseminators than educators, and thus they often do not want to spend too much time on educational interactions. This is particularly problematic on the lower secondary level, for instance in grades 7 to 9 where students are fast developing and need special educational guidance.

A most important task of school has ever been „socialization of young individuals“. To-day, however, in a time of disintegrating families, tired and worn-out parents, and of a fast developing „pleasure society“ in Western countries, this task is continuously growing. Parents often do not have the energy, time, or just simply engagement to look after and educate their children. Thus a growing part of educational work is left over to school.

Observations made in Germany show that still a great number of science teachers do not realize the growing educational demand they are facing: the demand of simultaneous „teaching science and educating children“. Application of science in everyday life needs education! This may best be demonstrated by a concrete experience recently made by the author in a German Gymnasium: All the knowledge about hygiene, infection, antigene, immune reactions etc. acquired in biology courses did not hinder some 9^th-graders who had a heavy cold to throw their infected tissues right across the class-room, „just for fun“.

This simple example shows the well-known long distance between „knowing“ and „doing“, and science teachers in Germany, possibly worldwide, should pay more attention on reducing this distance instead of just increasing the knowledge side!

Literature: Schaefer,G./Yoshioka,R.: Balanced Thinking. An educational perspective for 2000+ on the basis of a cross-cultural German/Japanese study. Peter Lang Publishers: Frankfurt a.Main, Berlin, Bern etc. 2000

Ⅲ. Investigations with Association and Definition Tests

Gerhard Schaefer

1. Introduction

Educational research on students‘ achievements in school normally use tests in which logically structured knowledge is examined, like multiple-choice tests, free definition tests, text-analysis tests, the „KS-test“ used in this project (see the following article), and others.

Not so usual, but extraordinarily effective, are tests measuring minute particles, constructive elements of knowledge and their quantitative distribution in memory rather than the whole, like free association, fragmented definition, aspectizing tests etc.. The significance of their results for a full understanding of students‘ mental processes and – above all – their behaviour in everyday life was demonstrated already in numerous research projects of the author and explicitly proved in our first Japanese/German cross-cultural study (Schaefer/ Yoshioka 2000; for the methodology in detail see that publication).

In this project here FA and FD tests were used to find out whether school has a visible influence on the development of everyday concepts such as nutrition, air pressure, and metal. In particular it is the associative framework of the concepts (the husk of the „burr“, see Schaefer 1979) that is of interest in this part of the project. The various detailed questions we have in this context can be subsumed under one general question:

Is there any evidence that school teaching reaches the „logic core“ of the concepts and thus leads to systematic understanding of subject-matter around them, or is the influence rather restricted to the „outer surface“ of the concepts and thus remains sporadic, unsystematic, somehow chaotic (but nevertheless important in everyday life) ?

We try to find answers to this question by analyzing free associations and free definitions, the latter including fragmentation to single „definitions elements“.

2. Pre-analysis: „Associative productivity“

The first study here is the analysis of students‘ creative force in producing associations and definition parts. There are three guiding questions:

1. Is this creativity age-dependent ?

2. Is it concept-(possibly subject-)bound ?

3. Is it country-dependent ?

The fourth question about sex-dependence cannot be treated here for space reasosns.

Table 1 first shows that the sample sizes used here are in all categories much alike, namely around 100 students. This number has been chozen because in all previous investigations with this methodology it proved to be sufficient to achieve stable results.

The result of this analysis can best be symbolized by the quotient m/n which represents the average number of associations (or definition elements) per person. The table answers all three questions: m/n is dependent on age, concept, and country.

Table 1: „Associative productivity“ of German and Japanese students

Concept

Grade

Free Associations

Free Definitions

Germany

Japan

Germany

Japan

m/n

Nutrition

4 - 5

128 859 6.7

106 430 4.1

128 264 2.1

96 410 4.3

8 - 9

99 832 8.4

89 475 5.3

99 338 3.4

89 987 11.1

11 - 12

97 891 9.2

91 508 5.6

97 565 5.8

91 1000 11.0

Air pressure

4 - 5

112 580 5.2

98 283 2.9

112 121 1.1

85 286 3.4

8 - 9

102 698 6.8

85 387 4.6

102 300 2.9

82 636 7.8

11 - 12

87 615 7.1

90 445 4.9

87 249 2.9

88 625 7.1

Metal

4 - 5

115 760 6.6

107 457 4.3

115 213 1.9

105 386 3.7

8 - 9

99 788 8.0

87 448 5.1

99 328 3.3

85 792 9.3

11 - 12

137 789 5.8

98 547 5.6

137 386 2.8

94 789 8.4

In the free associations, the quotient is rising in both countries from younger to older students, the greatest shift being from grades 4/5 to 8/9 (one exception: in Germany for metal where there is a surprising dropdown from 8/9 to 11/12). This result speaks against the old myth that younger children would generally tend to more lively phantasy and therefore would produce more free associations in response to a given stimulus. Obviously phantasy – at least in connection with everyday phenomena with a clearly scientific connotation – is supported by experience and thus grows with age.

In free definitions of both countries, however, such an increase with age can be observed only from grades 4/5 to 8/9. Thereafter, from 8/9 to 11/12, we find a marked decrease again, obviously because the older students are better in precise and hence shorter definitions (one exception again in Germany for „nutrition“ where the increase of m/n continues).

After looking at the total amount of associations and definition elements we are analyzing now some qualitative characteristics of the data, first focussing on the overall frequency of words and word groups in both tests (the so-called „top associations“ and „top definition parts“), second on their distribution in different qualitative categories.

3. Frequency of words and word groups

Tables 2 and 3 illustrate sections of the total frequency lists of associations and definition elements in both countries around „nutrition“. They show in absolute numbers the 25 most frequent associations and 20 most frequent definition elements. (The absolute numbers have the privilege to indicate how often in this population such a word was actually repeated. As table 1 shows, the sample sizes are in the same magnitude; so the absolute numbers are in fact comparable).

Table 2 shows the following interesting results:

1. Also the 25 „top associations“ are more frequent in Germany than in Japan, corrsponding to the totals shown in table 1.

2. The number of associations with a scientific connotation (underlined in table) apparently grows with age: In Germany from 1 through 8 to 11, in Japan from 12 through 13 to 15.

Whether this is an effect of school teaching or of other factors outside school, cannot be decided here. This question will be examined later in the reports on „knowledge & source tests“ KS (see articles of Yoshioka, Kaiser, Fujita).

3. According to point 2, the general quantitative level of scientifically connotated free associations is much higher, and the increase through the ages much smaller, in Japan than in Germany. The Japanese population seems to have received a much more systematic nutrition education than the German, and the whole sample is surprisingly homogeneous (see, for instance, the high concordance of top associations such as „vitamins“, „calcium“, „protein“, „carotin“, etc.).

Table 2: Up to 25 most frequent free associations around „nutrition“ (sample sizes see table 1)

Germany

Japan

Grades 4 / 5

Grades 8 / 9

Grades 11/12

Grades 4 / 5

Grades 8 / 9

Grades 11/12

1 eating 77

2 fruit 52

3 drinking 47

4 vegetables 44

5 meat 25

6 vitamins 21

7 health(y) 20

8 sausage 19

9 bread 16

10 apple 15

11 BSE 14

12 fat(s) 13

13 cheese 12

water ²

15 juice 11

feeding/

nutrition ²

animals ²

18 milk 10

banana ²

20 sweets 9

breakfast ²

22 soup 8

lunch ²

noodles ²

25 chocolate ²

1 health(y) 60

2 eating 53

3 vegetables 38

4 fruit 36

5 vitamins 31

6 drinking 29

7 digest(ion) 28

8 fat(s) 24

9 stomach 23

protein(s) ²

11carbohydrates

12 meat 19

13 hunger 14

mouth ²

15 nutrients 13

16 gullet 12

diet ²

sweets ²

lunch ²

gut ²

21 feeding/

nutrition 9

stout ²

important ²

24 BSE 8

25 energy ²

1 eating 40

health(y) ²

3 fat(s) 35

carbohydrates ²

vegetables ²

6 vitamins 34

7 fruit 33

8 protein(s) 28

9 drinking 27

10 digest(ion) 25

11 important/

necessary 19

diet ²

13 bread 18

hunger ²

15 meat 17

16 BSE 15

17 nutrient(s) 14

18 Fast Food 13

roughage ²

20 water 12

food ² 22 balanced 11

feeding/

nutrition ²

24 energy 10

25 vegetarian 9

1 vitamin 41

2 vegetable 24

3 food 21

4 protein 19

5 calcium 16

carotin ²

7 fat 13

8 nutriment 10

9 health 8

vitamin B ²

vitamin C ²

starch ²

good for the

health ² 14 carbohydrate7

mineral

(loan word) ²

milk ²

nourishment ²

18mineral(Jap.)6

meal ²

manure ²

fruit ²

22 energy 5

23 vitamin A 4

meat ²

25 water ²

1 vitamin 33

2 calcium 30

3 protein 24

4 food 23

5 fat 20

carbohydrate ²

mineral (Jap.) ²

8 vegetable 19

9 health 17

10 carotin 15

11 vitamin C 14

12 vitamin B 13

balance ²

14 vitamin A 11

15 energy 9

homemaking

(subject) ²

17 ferrate 8

18 foodstuffs 7

body ²

20 nutriment 6

21 starch 5

growth ²

23 meal 4

school lunch ²

25 amount of

nutrition needed²

1 vitamin 49

2 health 31

3 calcium 27

4 protein 26

5 vegetable 21

6 balance 16

7 food 12

carbohydrate ²

9 foodstuffs 11

10 carotin 10

vitamin B ²

12 vitamin C 9

meal ²

14 dietician 8

drink ²

16 fat 7

homemaking ²

mineral

(loan word) ²

school lunch ² 20mineral(Jap.)6

ferrate ²

calorie ²

colored

vegetable ²

24 vitamin A 5

energy ²

In table 3 on defintions we observe similar results as in table 2 on associations, however with the striking difference that in Japan the general quantitative level of scientifically connotated words is lower here (4/3/5 as compared with 0/7/7 in Germany). This cannot simply be explained with the smaller size of the list (20 most frequent elements here instead of 25 in table 2).It rather seems to indicate that the effect of nutrition education in Japan mainly occurs on the associative level of memory and not on the level of logical structuring.

It is interesting to see that in Japan in all three age groups some permeating elements of nutrition education can be found, like „energy“, „balance“, „vitamins“, whereas in Germany obvious effects of such education (which is incorporated here in human biology) can be observed only in grades 8/9 where it is, or just was, a topic of teaching. However, we find then in Germany a broader spectrum of sophisticated definition elements on a complex level of biological understanding than in Japan such as „body-own“, „body-alien“, „excretion“, „nutrient“, „convert (conversion)“, „digestion“, „energy“.

For space reasons we cannot present here the same lists on „air pressure“ and „metal“. Some observations are similar, e.g. regarding the higher total amounts of top associations and definition elements in Germany, and the general increase of science-oriented terms through the ages. This increase, in fact, is quite spectacular in Germany in the FA results of „air pressure“ and „metal“ and much greater here than of „nutrition“. Part of the effect can clearly be attributed to the influence of school because specific formulas from physics teaching appear in FA results of „air pressure“, and specific chemical and physical terms of „metal“.

Table 3: Up to 20 most frequent definition elements on „nutrition“ (sample sizes see table 1)

Germany

Japan

Grade 4 - 5

Grade 8 – 9

Grade 11-12

Grade 4 - 5

Grade 8 - 9

Grade 11-12

1 eating 48

2 drinking 21

3 to feed 17

4 life, to live 15

5 health(y) 13

something ²

important ²

8 starving 11 9 vegetables 10

10 fruit 6

to need ²

uptake ²

13 human being

1 uptake 27

2 important 26

3 eating 22

4 food 15

5 health(y) 14

human being ²

7 energy 13

8 digest(ion) 12

9 to take in 11

10 convert(sion)

11 nutrient(s) 8

feeding/

nutrition ²

13 to excrete 7

body ²

15 body-alien 6

something ²

17 body-own 5

to need ²

drinking ²

20 life, to live ²

1 uptake 59

2 important/

necessary 46

3 body 36

4 energy 27

5 nutrient(s) 20

food ²

7 life, to live 19

8 human being

9 substances 16

10 foodstuff 13

11 sustain 11

12 procedure 10

13 carbohydrates

14 to need 8

15 function 7

vitamins ²

(biological)

process ²

health(y) ²

eating ²

20 way how to 6

1 necessity 41

2 body 40

3 take 21

4 human being

5 important 18

6 food 12

7 to live 11

living thing ²

9 to eat 10 10 to live 9

11 energy 8

vitamin ²

13 good 7

14 animal 6

plant ²

16 vegetable 5

17 man 4

growth ²

balance ²

20 spirits ²

1 body 48

2 human being

46 3 take 33

4 balance 32

5 to live 24

6 necessary

thing 21

7 man 20

growth ²

9 necessity 18

health ²

11 food 16

disease ²

13 energy 15

14 important 12

foodstuffs ²

16 meal 11

17 can't miss 10

don't take ²

19 vitamin 9

20 to eat 8

1 necessity 55

2 body 45

3 human being

4 health 29 5 to live 25

6 balance 24

7 take 23

8 energy 22

9 food 13

10 man 11

living thing ²

animal ²

13 disease 10

foodstuffs ²

component ²

take

(academic) ²

17 growth 9

meal ²

protein ²

20 vitamin 7

In Japan, however, the population again seems much more homogeneous and age-independent with respect to the two concepts although there certainly is no specific „air pressure education“ or „metal education“ in school comparable to the existing nutrition education. School teaching in general seems to have a strongly homogenizing effect in Japan by strict guidelines for the treatment of subject-matter.

4. Categorization of Associations and Definition elements

Top associations and definition elements are first qualitative indicators of kind and depth of concept understanding. A second – and more specific – indicator is a classification of these „particles of knowledge“ in categories which should, on one side, characterize the scientific nature of the concept under study, on the other side also its human context in terms of applicability to everyday life, psychological and social values and possibly other aspects dependent on the concept and the test-population.

In table 4 the categories used in this study are listed up. They all start with a „formal category“ (all, never, so far, relation, framework, sometimes, etc.) and end up with two emotional categories „+“ and „-“ in which affective statements of the students are collected. These , and also some other, statements may overlap with other categories so that frequently statements have to be attributed to two or more categories at the same time. This results in a sum of absolute figures higher than „m“, or a relative sum higher than 100%, respectively.

Table 4: Categories used for classification of associations and definition elements

Cate.	Nutrition	Air pressure	Metal
1	General remarks, formal words, not content-bound
2	Meals, foodstuff	Special physical category: Static pressure; weight, force,area, quo- tient, etc. (not mass, density!)	Special examples of metal: Heavy metals (gold, silver, iron, copper, etc.)
3	Natural „macro-nutrients“ (needed in greater quantities), also their chemical symbols	Special physical category: Dynamic pressure; speed, wind, air resistance, etc.	Special examples of metal: Light metals (aluminum, magnesium, etc.)
4	Natural „micro-nutrients“ (needed in small quantities), like vitamins, minerals, trace elements	Special physical category: Sound and its radiation (also music, bang, explosion, etc.)	Special examples of metal: Alkali-metals (sodium, potassium, calcium, etc.)
5	Artificial additives to nutrition like spices, medicaments, pesticides, growth hormones, drugs, preserving substances	General physical aspects other than the above;here, for instance, mass, density; also units of pressure (bar, hectopascal, etc.)	Chemical properties (metallic bonding, compounds of metals, rusting, corrosion, etc.)
6	Digestion and physiology of metabolism	Metrological and geographical aspects like weather, height of mountains, barometer, etc.	Physical properties (electrical conductivity, heat-conductivity, glossiness, weight, „cold“, etc.)
7	Food production: agriculture, fishery; also countries of food origin	Physiological, medical and psychological aspects (health, well-being, ear-cracking, etc.)	Metal and life: biological, psychological and social/political aspects (here also metal trade unions, strike, gold price, etc.)
8	Social, economical and political aspects: family, society, restaurants, poor/rich countries, world hunger problem, etc.	Technical applications of air pressure; also social, political aspects (hydraulic machines, airplanes, tyres, balloons, etc.)	Technical application of metals: tools, vehicles, machines, metal industry and manufacture, also exploitation of ore resources
+	Clearly positive emotions (normally overlapping with other categories)
-	Clearly negative emotions (normally overlapping with other categories)

Tables 5 and 6 show the relative frequence of statements (words or word groups) in each category as related to the number n of persons (see table 1) and thus give a clear impression of the associative framework on one side (table 5), and a fairly good picture of the logic core on the other (table 6) existing in the two populations on nutrition, air pressure and metal.

The complete results incuded in the tables cannot be discussed here, but the most striking observations are summarized in a few points.

Due to relating the absolute numbers of statements to the number of persons (n), the German mean values are generally higher than the Japanese (cf. table 1). Independent of this general difference in associative creativity there are marked qualitative differences in the association and definition profiles of German and Japanese students as listed up in the following:

Table 5: Categorization of Free Associations (figures are mean values of absolute data)

Con-

cept

Nutrition

Air pressure

Metal

Na-

tion

Germany

Japan

Germany

Japan

Germany

Japan

Gra-

4 - 5

8 - 9

11 –

4 - 5

8 - 9

11 –

4 - 5

8 - 9

11 –

4 - 5

8 - 9

11 –

4 - 5

8 - 9

11 –

4 - 5

8 - 9

11 –

0.3

0.1

0.4

0.8

1.1

1.4

0.3

0.7

0.2

0.5

0.6

0.2

0.7

1.2

2.0

3.7

0.3

0.4

0.1

1.7

0.2

1.6

2.6

0.8

0.5

0.1

3.2

0.1

1.7

3.0

1.1

0.3

0.0

2.4

0.01.1

1.0

0.6

1.2

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.9

1.6

0.2

0.1

0.0

0.4

1.0

0.6

1.5

0.2

0.1

0.0

0.5

0.4

0.5

0.0

0.6

1.9

0.9

1.3

0.5

0.1

0.0

2.1

1.7

0.8

1.5

0.3

0.1

0.0

1.6

2.4

0.6

1.3

0.1

0.0

0.2

2.2

0.1

0.5

0.1

0.0

0.5

3.0

0.1

0.2

0.0

0.3

3.3

0.1

0.2

0.7

0.0

0.3

1.3

0.6

3.2

1.6

0.3

0.0

1.3

1.8

0.7

2.5

1.9

0.3

0.1

2.4

2.2

0.6

2.2

1.2

0.1

0.0

0.1

0.8

0.3

1.3

1.2

0.2

0.0

0.1

1.0

0.5

1.7

1.6

0.2

0.0

0.2

1.5

0.5

0.9

0.2

0.0

0.3

0.2

0.3

0.2

0.1

0.2

0.1

0.2

0.0

0.1

0.0

0.1

0.0

0.1

0.0

0.00.2

0.1

0.0

0.2

0.1

0.0

0.1

0.0

0.1

Table 6: Categorization of Definition Elements (figures as in table 5)

Con-

cept

Nutrition

Air pressure

Metal

Na-

tion

Germany

Japan

Germany

Japan

Germany

Japan

Gra-

4 - 5

8 - 9

11 –

4 - 5

8 - 9

11 –

4 - 5

8 - 9

11 –

4 - 5

8 - 9

11 –

4 - 5

8 - 9

11 –

4 - 5

8 - 9

11 –

0.5

2.4

3.2

8.2

8.5

0.2

0.8

0.9

1.5

3.2

2.8

0.3

0.6

1.9

2.4

5.9

5.1

0.2

0.0

0.9

0.0

0.5

0.6

0.0

2.0

0.0

0.3

0.7

0.3

0.1

0.0

1.6

0.0

0.1

0.5

0.2

0.0

0.3

0.9

0.6

0.4

0.1

0.0

1.2

1.1

0.6

0.3

0.0

0.2

0.0

0.9

0.2

0.0

0.1

0.4

0.1

0.0

0.7

0.0

0.5

0.7

0.1

0.2

0.5

0.1

0.0

0.8

0.6

0.1

0.0

0.3

0.0

0.1

1.3

0.2

0.1

0.5

0.0

1.0

3.6

0.0

0.1

0.5

0.0

0.3

3.6

0.3

0.2

0.1

0.0

0.2

0.7

0.1

0.4

0.1

0.0

0.8

0.9

0.3

0.7

0.1

0.0

1.1

1.2

0.3

0.8

0.3

0.0

0.3

1.8

0.2

0.7

0.6

0.1

0.0

1.0

3.6

0.7

1.9

0.4

0.1

0.0

1.0

3.4

0.8

1.3

0.1

0.0

0.2

0.0

0.3

0.0

0.9

0.2

1.8

1.1

1.8

1.1

0.0

0.1

0.0

0.2

0.1

0.0

0.2

0.0

0.20.1

0.6

0.1

0.4

0.2

Nutrition

· Generally higher figures in Japan in the formal category (1), the difference to Germany being extreme in the definition profile (table 6).

· High figures in the micro-nutrient category (4) in Japan. This corresponds to the high

frequency of „calcium“, „vitamins“ etc. in table 2.

· On the other hand, the digestion category (6) is by far dominating in Germany over Japan. It is striking to see that in Japanese reactions (both in associations and definitions) this category is so poorly represented although it is so closely related to nutrition.

· Whereas in the social category (8) in Germany there is an increase of associations with age and a striking domination over Japan (table 5), the effect is reverse in the definitions (table 6): Here the figures decrease with age in Germany, and the figures in Japan rise above those of Germany.

· Although definitions usually are poor in emotional components, due to logical reasoning, the Japanese students reveal considerable (mainly positive) emotional reactions to „nutrition“ in their definitions (categories „+“ and „-“ in table 6).

Air pressure

· In contrast to nutrition, associations in the formal category (1) are here less represented in Japan than in Germany (table 5). However, in the definition profile (table 6) this category is still dominating over Germany.

· Whereas the „proper“ category 2 (air pressure as the quotient „weight by area“) is almost equally (although poorly!) represented in both countries in either profile, the physical (5), physiological (7) and technical (8) categories are clearly dominating in the associations of Germany (table 5). The difference in definitions is less clear (table 6).

· In the metrological category (6) there is a clear dominance of Japanese responses over German ones in both profiles (stronger, however, in the definition profile) although also in Germany we find a relative maximum of responses in this category.

· Emotional reactions to „air pressure“ (categories „+“ and „-“) are extremely few in both populations and both profiles.

Metal

· The previously stated predominance of formal responses (1) in Japan over Germany is maintained in both profiles. Most drastic, however, is this effect again in the definition profile (table 6).

· A relative maximum of associative responses exists in the heavy metal category (2) in both countries, but not so in the definitions. On the other hand, the light metal (3) and alkali-metal (4) categories are almost blank in either population.

· Considerable maxima in both profiles can be observed in the physical (6) and technical (8) categories in Germany as well as Japan.

· In Japan, however, the chemical category (5) is rather poorly represented in the association profile (table 5), whereas in Germany we find here in the higher grades (after chemistry teaching started in grade 8) a relative maximum in both profiles.

· Emotional responses to „metal“ are rare in both populations and profiles. There is a slight predominance of positive over negative responses, strongest in Japan.

4. Final Conclusion

Summing up the association and definition results reported here, we can finally give the following tentative answer to the heuristic question of the beginning (chapter 1):

There is in fact empirical evidence that the effect school has on the development of science-oriented concepts from everyday life is largely restricted to the „outer surface“ of the concepts in both countries and thus remains sporadic, unsystematic, and somehow chaotic.

School teaching up to now, for the majority of students, apparently is not effective in developing a deeper understanding of subject-matter reaching the logic core of concepts. This hypothesis has to be thoroughly discussed and proved on the basis of results gained with a sophisticated „knowledge & source“ test (KS) which will be reported in the following articles.

Nevertheless the influence of the associative, sporadic part of memory on human decisions and actions is immense, as daily experience tells us. Thus it is quite important in school teaching to spend more attention to this part of memory. This brings us back to implications R. Manitz-Schaefer outlined in her article on the role of the science teacher as an educator.

Literature:

Schaefer, G.: Concept Formation in Biology. The Concept „Growth“. EJSE 1 (1), 1979, 87-102

Schaefer, G./Yoshioka, R.: Balanced Thinking. Peter Lang Publ.: Frankfurt/M., Berlin, Bern etc. 2000

Ⅳ. Introduction to the KS Test and Report on Interviews with Adults

Bernd Oehmig

1. The “KS test”

The total test battery contained -beside the association and definition test reported before by G. Schaefer- also a modified multiple-choice test called “Knowledge & Source test” (KS). The classical multiple-choice test is standardised, highly selective, allows quick evaluation, and therefore is very often used. However, as it was necessary to test students from 9 years up to 18 with the same test battery, and as we also wanted to investigate the sources of knowledge, we modified the test as explained below. We used a test design considering both everyday concepts from colloquial language and scientific concepts of a high demand in order to find out the possible influence of school teaching on concept development in everyday life (the purpose of this project).

The KS test starts with a short story appealing the mentality of students of all ages (motivation part of the test). For example, in the KS test on “metal” we use the idea of two young boys strolling about on a waste disposal-site to find objects made of metal. They discuss the characteristics of metal. The test person is being involved in their discussion by statements on metal, which he/she believes to be right or wrong. Also a response “don’t know” is possible. In addition, the person should indicate whether or not this topic has already been treated in school.

Example:

Bernd and Marc are fond of adventures. They read books on the gold rush in America. But America is far away and out of reach. Therefore they have the idea to look for gold on a waste disposal-site, which was outranged some years ago.

Section from short story

Is the statement right?

I had this topic in school already

yes

don’t know

yes

Marc thinks gold is a precious metal and therefore is unlikely to be found on a waste disposal-site.

For the concept “nutrition” the story was about a young girl falling sick as a result of wrong nutrition. For “air-pressure” the test starts with a story on ear cracking in the mountains. When formulating the following statements we paid attention that the items (20 to 30 in number) should be coherent and, step-by-step, should grow in scientific demand.

Example:

Section from statements on metal

Is the statement right?

I had this topic in school already

yes

don’t know

yes

The reason for the typical attributes of a metal is a special bonding of atoms.

At the end oft the KS test we ask again about possible sources of the student’s knowledge and solicit very personal assessments about the significance of the concept in everyday-life, and on the way it was treated in school.

Example:

Section from personal statements	yes	no	uncer-tain
We spoke about metal in school already but it was boring.

The whole test needs about 45 minutes (one lesson), older students sometimes needing less.

2. Interviews of adults

2.1 General remarks

In addition to testing students in school we also interviewed 22 adults with the same test battery. These had left school several years ago, and we wanted to find out something about the “fate of school knowledge”. We also expected from these individualized in-depth interviews to get some qualitative data for the following phase of research.

The interviews centred on the following 6 points:

1. What is the importance of this concept and the relevant science dealing with it?

2. Is the knowledge about this concept part of general education (for everybody) or rather of a special training (for those who are interested)?

3. What do the test persons remember from their time of school teaching in connection with this concept, and with the relevant science?

4. Which are the real sources of the test person’s knowledge behind their own indications?

5. How do the test persons explain and comment the gaps in their knowledge?

6. What kind of role do the test persons attribute to school in general?

These points were concretised in 21 questions. In view of the goal of the project the interviews were not only conceived as knowledge tests but as a documentation of the effectivity of school in general.

2.2 Methodology

We selected the test persons from a circle of well-known adults, males and females, in order to receive frank statements and confidential results. Different professional groups were represented (charwoman, employee, dentist etc.). The oldest participant was 60 years old, the youngest 24, most participants in the age range between 30 and 40. University students were excluded because of a possible affinity to the subject in question.

A sample of 22 is not “representative” in the statistical sense, but in this investigation we put the emphasis on qualitative results rather than quantitative.

After filling in the sheets of our test battery they were confronted with the 21 questions mentioned above. The responses of the test persons were carefully protocolled sometimes lead to subsequent discussions. The cross-reference of the 21 questions to the above stated 6 main points was handled in a flexible way. Thus there were test persons who first answered the content of the concept under study were quite unimportant, but later on expressed it were an indispensable part of general education. In spite of such contradictions, however, the sequence of questions generally yielded coherent statements of the test persons.

The interview started with the following open question: “What would you like to comment after filling in the test?” It was very interesting to see that this -for the interviewees- completely unexpected part revealed the whole spectrum of aspects around teaching and learning.

Applying test battery and interview together at the same persons allows mutual control and assessment of the two methods and thus the interpretation of their results.

2.3 Results of Interview

The following report shows the main results in a condensed form:

1. All persons regret spontaneously that they have no knowledge at all about one of the three concepts. They admit to have a rough memory but all details were forgotten.

2. The adults characterized the concepts to be “unimportant”, “useless” and “uninteresting” (less in nutrition). The assessment of importance of air-pressure and metal tends towards zero.

3. Nevertheless nearly all test persons express the opinion some knowledge about the concepts would be an essential part of general education.

4. The reasons for forgetting the details are specified: too much theory in school, too little practice-oriented teaching, and no possibility of practical application in everyday life.

5. Further reasons are stated: inappropriate teaching arrangement, deficient planning of lessons, few experiments, too little project teaching, poor preparation of lessons.

6. There are two kinds of groups: one expresses a general disinterest in natural science, and the other thinks positively on it. Both, however, complain about the imperfections of school listed up in 4 and 5.

7. There are some hints from test persons that in those cases where schools actual working with experiments the situation is not improving. The same persons who very well remember quite peripheral and sometimes amusing events around the experiments do not remember the scientific details, which were intended. One quotation: "I remember very well experiments on conductivity and acids and colourful test-tubes containing the whole burnt shit."

8. An important reason of effectivity of school is seen in the personal contact between students and teacher and in an agreeable learning atmosphere. This corresponds to the answers given to questions about interest: with the answers for questions about interests. The test persons state two reasons for interest/disinterest: a. personal ability (talents); b. the way of instruction.

9. All in the entire concept nutrition seems the most meaningful concept (see also FA and FD results). Metal and air-pressure are regarded as “unimportant” and “boring” concepts.

Summarizing the above statements the test persons think they did not learn anything substantial in school, yet school would be “important for life”.

2.4 Results of KS test

If we regard the wrong, the missing and the indifferent answers together as “wrong”, there was no significant difference between the three concepts (air-pressure had the highest rate of “wrong” answers: 58.0%, followed by metal: 41.7%, and nutrition 37.5%).

Using a statistical correction factor on the basis of the assumption that some items may just be guessed, the results become much worse.

With regard to the question about the source of knowledge, nutrition shows a special position again: This concept is much more present in the heads of the test persons than air-pressure and metal, and memory apparently contains and stores more easily facts about nutrition than about the others.

2.5 Further results

The daily impact of the three concepts was assessed by the test persons in the following way:

1. All adults confessed they heard something about metal in school, but half of them were not sure about nutrition and air-pressure. This is curious if compared with the test results.

2. They confirmed the concepts were not interesting and that it would not be necessary to find out further details about them. They expressed this opinion in contrast to their previous statement they were “useful in every-day-life”.

3. If asked whether knowledge about the concepts would be useless they refused this for the concept nutrition.

Finally, we look at some selected results of the FA and FD test. Adults, in the given maximal frame of 9 associations, wrote down in the average 5.8 words per person for nutrition, 5.0 for metal, and 4.3 for air-pressure. This again demonstrates the exceptional role of nutrition mentioned above. The higher positions of the ranking list look as follows:

Rank Air-pressure Metal Nutrition

1 tyre hard diet

rust

2 high-pressure iron health

weather jewelry

3 low-pressure aluminium bread

mining BSE

tank, etc. protein, etc.

If we compare the association of adults with those of students (see preceding article of G. Schaefer), we observe a striking similarity in the top associations. This corresponds to previous experience of concept research showing that the associative framework in a population is surprisingly constant and homogeneous in space and time.

The FD test in the interview was grouped into 4 categories: full (correct and comprehensive) definition, wrong definition (with errors or contradictions), insufficient definition (including tautological ones), and missing definition. Nearly all of them tried a definition, but the result in fact was disappointing because most of them gave very poor answers. Examples: “Nutrition is important for life.” “Metal is difficult to handle and is hard to form.” “Air-pressure is to pump something; it becomes tight.”

2.6 Sources of knowledge

Evaluation of the last item of the KS test shows that magazines and television, beside parents, are essential sources for all three concepts. Books, however, are the main sources for metal and air-pressure. Internet, CD-Rom and newspapers almost play no part.

Another result of the KS test lets assume that school had informed about nutrition and metal very well in contrast to air-pressure. In case of air-pressure adults were not sure or answered negatively. This shows the mean relative importance of this concept - it does not stick in their minds.

Ⅴ．ＫＳテストによる知識と情報源の研究

藤田剛志

１．目的

子ども達は、学校で科学が教えられる前に、様々な自然現象に関する概念について、子ども達なりの知識を獲得している。このような知識は，日常的な経験に深く強固に根ざしているので，伝統的な授業では、容易に変容しない。しかし，経験に基づく子ども達の素朴な知識は，学校での授業を通して，より抽象的・論理的な概念に精緻化されることが期待されている。

本研究では，科学の授業によって日常概念が精緻化されるのか，精緻化されるとすれば，それは文化に影響されるのか，性差に影響されるのか，あるいは獲得される概念によって異なるのかを明らかにすることを目的とする。

２．方法

2.1 調査対象

表１　調査対象者数
		学年			合計
		4-5	8-9	11-12	合計
栄養	ドイツ	118	95	107	320
	日本	112	90	92	294
気圧	ドイツ	106	97	72	275
	日本	111	87	90	288
金属	ドイツ	126	97	93	316
	日本	111	88	100	299

授業による概念の精緻化を検討するために，小・中・高等学校の各段階の児童・生徒を調査対象とした。また，文化による影響を調べるために，ドイツと日本でサンプリングを行った。サンプリング数は，一つの概念に対して，各学年段階の子ども達をおよそ100人とした。最終的には，表１に示すような児童・生徒を調査対象とした。

2.2 ＫＳテスト

調査対象とした日常概念は，栄養，気圧，金属の３つである。これらの概念に関する知識とその情報源をＫＳテスト(Knowledge and Sources Test)を用いて調査した。各概念のＫＳテストは，文末の附録１～４に示した。

KSテストは，２つの問題群から構成されている。一つは，概念に関する知識の真偽とその知識を授業で学んでいるかを問う問題である（附録１～３）。この問題では，日常概念を対象としていることを子ども達に意識させるために，身近な短い物語が最初に提示されている。たとえば，栄養のKSテストでは，ミドリさんが気を失って倒れたという状況での同級生の会話から「栄養」が取り上げられた。この短い物語の後に，栄養に関する基本的知識とより高度な知識の真偽が問われる。と同時に，それらの知識を授業で学んでいるかどうかも尋ねられる。

もう一つの問題群は，各概念を学ぶことに興味や関心があるかどうかを問う小問と概念に関する知識をどのような情報源から得ているかを問う問題から構成されている（附録４）。

2.3 データの変換

　ここでは，KSテストの応答を２値データに変換し，分析した。すなわち，知識の真偽については，正答とそれ以外，授業で学んだかどうかについては，はい・いいえとした。「わからない」や無回答については，欠損値として扱った。

３．結果

3.1 概念に関する知識の正答率

表２～４は，各概念に関するドイツと日本の正答率を学年別及び性別に示したものである。まず，学年別に見た正答率を検討しよう。

ピアソンのχ²検定を行ったところ，栄養に関する知識の正答率に有意差が見られた質問項目は，ドイツでは13項目，日本では９項目であった。両国とも，学年が上がるに伴い，正答率は上昇する傾向があった。ところが，気圧と金属に関する知識については，日本とドイツの正答率の有意差に違いが見られた。気圧の正答率に有意差が見られたのは，ドイツで13項目であった。そのうちの２項目は，8-9学年の正答率が一番高かった。一方，日本では，14項目に有意差が見られ，そのうちの９項目で8-9学年の正答率が一番高かった。同様に，金属についても，ドイツでは19項目の正答率に有意差が見られたが，8-9学年の正答率が一番高かったのはわずか４項目であった。しかし，日本では有意差が検出された19項目のうち９項目で8-9学年の正答率が一番高かった。

学年別の正答率に比べ，性別の正答率に有意差が見いだされた項目は少なかった。しかしながら，面白い結果が見られた。栄養については，ドイツで３項目，日本で２項目に性差が見いだされた。ドイツでは，３項目すべてにおいて，女子の正答率が男子よりも高かった。一方，日本では，２項目とも男子の正答率が女子よりも高かった。気圧については，ドイツで７項目に性差が見られた。そのうち６項目は，男子の正答率が高かった。日本の正答率に性差が見られたのは４項目であるが，すべて男子の正答率が高かった。金属については，ドイツは日本よりも多くの項目で性差が見られた。日本ではわずか３項目だけであったが，ドイツでは11項目に性差が見られた。金属において性差が見られた項目の正答率は，両国とも，男子の方が女子よりも高かった。

表２　栄養に関する知識の正答率（％）
	学年								性
	ドイツ				日本				ドイツ			日本
	4-5	8-9	11-12		4-5	8-9	11-12		男	女		男	女
問１	80.2	91.5	94.4	*	88.3	90.0	93.5		88.4	89.1		91.0	89.6
問２	90.5	95.7	97.1		91.1	95.6	90.2		95.6	93.4		91.7	92.8
問３	76.7	87.4	92.4	*	63.4	60.0	75.0		81.2	88.5		71.4	59.2	*
問４	21.2	44.4	68.6		19.6	30.7	41.8		47.0	43.6		32.7	26.8
問５	19.0	39.1	55.8	*	9.8	20.2	54.3	*	35.3	38.7		28.0	25.8
問６	80.2	94.7	96.3	*	88.4	92.0	93.5		91.3	89.7		89.8	92.7
問７	91.1	97.7	98.0	*	92.8	98.9	97.8		95.5	95.4		95.8	96.8
問８	60.9	87.1	86.8	*	69.6	84.3	79.3	*	74.6	80.1		78.0	76.6
問９	87.0	66.7	50.5	*	57.8	33.7	34.8	*	73.0	63.4		46.7	38.7
問10	43.1	38.3	39.3		14.3	33.7	52.2	*	42.8	37.5		31.5	33.1
問11	80.2	81.9	82.1		53.6	86.4	88.0	*	81.9	79.8		71.3	79.0
問12	41.5	50.0	53.8		42.9	42.7	56.5		50.0	47.0		52.4	40.3	*
問13	74.6	87.2	73.3	*	77.7	86.5	83.7		75.4	79.9		83.3	81.5
問14	20.5	13.7	29.9	*	17.3	12.4	20.7		25.7	17.9		17.4	16.3
問15	6.8	5.3	12.4		18.2	13.5	8.7		7.2	8.7		16.8	9.8
問16	80.7	59.8	65.3	*	27.5	32.6	13.0	*	62.6	72.5	*	22.2	27.9
問17	64.6	96.8	94.3	*	38.5	64.0	77.2	*	79.6	88.5	*	55.1	63.9
問18	39.7	76.8	88.7	*	88.2	94.4	95.7		64.5	70.7		89.8	95.9
問19	54.3	80.9	84.9	*	40.0	69.7	77.2	*	65.4	78.4	*	62.9	58.5
問20	15.4	13.2	25.5		36.4	55.1	70.7	*	20.4	17.5		55.1	50.4

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　*　p<.05

表３　気圧に関する知識の正答率（％）
	学年								性
	ドイツ				日本				ドイツ			日本
	4-5	8-9	11-12		4-5	8-9	11-12		男	女		男	女
問１	51.4	52.6	47.9		39.6	57.5	49.4	*	52.9	48.9		51.5	43.6
問２	30.2	39.6	58.0	*	31.8	36.8	41.6		43.2	37.3		38.1	34.2
問３	13.2	25.0	64.3	*	15.3	40.0	44.4	*	36.2	25.7		34.3	28.4
問４	18.7	39.6	35.2	*	5.4	18.4	22.2	*	36.4	23.5	*	17.6	10.3
問５	34.6	47.4	60.6	*	22.5	40.2	43.3	*	50.0	41.8		34.7	34.2
問６	90.6	93.8	94.4		49.5	72.1	80.0	*	96.4	89.1	*	68.6	61.5
問７	18.9	21.6	22.2		13.5	32.6	31.1	*	22.9	17.5		27.8	20.5
問８	13.2	14.4	19.4		15.3	32.6	32.2	*	18.6	10.9		30.2	19.7
問９	33.6	29.9	13.2	*	21.6	38.4	33.3	*	30.4	22.8		35.5	23.1	*
問10	18.9	37.1	55.1	*	4.5	22.1	18.0	*	38.1	32.6		15.5	12.0
問11	22.6	42.3	44.9	*	17.3	14.0	21.1		41.0	28.9	*	20.7	12.9
問12	28.0	37.1	38.8		26.1	62.8	44.4	*	40.7	27.1	*	48.5	35.0	*
問13	56.1	71.6	90.0	*	47.2	80.0	74.4	*	66.7	74.3		66.5	64.3
問14	41.9	45.8	60.0		49.5	86.0	75.6	*	48.9	47.8		67.5	70.1
問15	30.8	26.1	27.9		29.7	33.7	19.3		32.1	25.0		29.8	24.1
問16	17.9	20.0	21.7		12.6	17.4	13.5		27.9	12.1	*	16.1	12.0
問17	42.7	45.8	30.0		15.3	30.2	36.0	*	33.6	46.3	*	23.8	29.9
問18	19.6	12.4	10.0		3.6	38.4	21.3	*	15.7	14.0		22.0	16.2
問19	35.8	45.8	55.1	*	19.8	30.2	27.0		48.2	39.6		31.5	16.2	*
問20	31.4	39.2	52.2		17.1	25.6	28.1		45.7	33.3	*	25.6	18.8	*

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　*　p<.05

表４　金属に関する知識の正答率（％）
	学年								性
	ドイツ				日本				ドイツ			日本
	4-5	8-9	11-12		4-5	8-9	11-12		男	女		男	女
問１	58.5	84.4	90.3	*	77.5	69.3	57.0	*	81.0	73.5		67.1	69.4
問２	42.7	75.0	87.0	*	46.8	65.9	75.0	*	67.7	67.8		67.1	56.5
問３	17.6	33.0	42.2	*	10.8	31.8	43.0	*	39.1	21.6	*	27.6	27.9
問４	31.9	62.1	58.6	*	26.1	52.3	61.0	*	53.2	45.0		44.7	46.3
問５	44.1	50.0	60.7		22.5	22.7	42.0	*	54.8	49.3		31.6	26.5
問６	46.4	44.3	40.0		68.2	87.5	74.0	*	42.9	45.8		71.5	80.3
問７	65.5	67.7	87.1	*	51.9	67.0	76.5	*	76.4	71.6		66.2	62.9
問８	77.7	86.6	92.5	*	66.7	83.0	88.0	*	89.1	80.1	*	77.6	79.6
問９	70.3	71.9	90.3	*	51.4	62.5	67.3		81.0	74.3		60.7	59.2
問10	29.2	26.6	24.2		30.9	50.6	38.8	*	30.8	23.2		40.9	37.7
問11	28.8	58.8	73.3	*	16.4	22.7	36.1	*	62.9	42.8	*	26.0	23.4
問12	61.7	83.9	81.7	*	33.3	56.8	52.0	*	82.5	66.9	*	46.0	46.9
問13	20.2	52.1	59.1	*	24.8	31.8	28.9		47.5	38.8		37.2	19.2	*
問14	20.2	47.3	65.6	*	44.0	43.7	35.7		50.0	34.3	*	42.6	39.7
問15	51.3	76.3	89.0	*	52.7	82.8	80.2	*	75.5	66.9		70.9	70.3
問16	63.3	72.9	81.3	*	49.5	85.2	77.6	*	80.7	64.1	*	64.7	74.1
問17	66.0	81.3	93.1	*	70.7	83.1	90.7	*	83.1	76.6		79.3	83.9
問18	17.5	26.0	26.7		28.8	46.6	28.9	*	27.8	19.0		36.0	32.2
問19	35.9	56.3	74.4	*	9.0	30.7	41.2	*	54.2	54.4		25.3	26.7
問20	25.4	13.5	20.9		9.0	11.5	8.2		29.4	11.0	*	13.4	5.5	*
問21	54.4	35.1	46.2	*	35.1	73.9	79.4	*	47.1	43.8		56.7	65.8
問22	33.3	24.2	34.8		8.2	21.6	12.5	*	36.9	24.7	*	16.8	10.3
問23	53.8	64.9	84.3	*	35.1	50.0	52.6	*	72.2	60.3	*	52.7	37.7	*
問24	43.1	65.6	50.5	*	44.1	52.3	44.8		59.0	46.9	*	45.6	47.9
問25	21.4	20.0	22.2		7.2	6.9	11.5		26.1	17.6		11.4	5.5
問26	38.5	13.5	13.2	*	15.3	9.1	9.4		31.6	15.5	*	14.1	8.9
問27	24.1	12.9	22.6		16.2	18.2	13.5		22.1	17.9		14.1	17.8
問28	12.9	12.6	8.9		4.5	5.7	5.2		13.1	10.2		7.4	2.7
問29	16.1	12.6	23.5		2.7	7.0	5.3		18.9	16.5		6.8	2.8

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　*　p<.05

3.2 平均得点の分析結果

表５は，栄養に関する19の質問項目について，正答を１点として合計を求め，学年別及び性別に，その平均得点を示したものである。問16「砂糖は力の源であり，身体によいものである」については，真偽がどちらにも解釈できるために，合計から除いた。平均得点の下の数値は，標本数を示している。欠損値が１項目でも存在する場合は，19項目の合計も欠損値となるために，標本数が少なくなっている。

栄養に関する知識の平均得点は，学年が上がるに従って高くなっている。また，全体の平均得点を見ると，男子の平均得点よりも女子の平均得点の方が，わずかではあるが高い。

表６は，栄養に関する知識の獲得に，学年及び性が影響を及ぼすかどうかを検討するために，分散分析を行った結果を示したものである。学年の主効果にだけ有意差が見られた。

表５　栄養に関する知識の平均得点
	4-5学年			8-9学年			11-12学年			全体
	男	女	計	男	女	計	男	女	小計	男	女	計
ドイツ	10.2	10.7	10.4	13.1	12.2	12.5	13.3	13.4	13.3	11.7	12.1	12.0
N=	53	50	103	23	49	72	32	53	85	108	152	260
日本	10.5	10.2	10.4	11.9	11.5	11.8	13.2	12.5	12.9	11.8	11.4	11.6
N=	58	42	100	45	39	84	52	39	91	155	120	275

表６　栄養の平均得点に対する分散分析表
	要因	平方和	自由度	平均平方	F 値
ドイツ	学年	417.0	2	208.5	35.1	**
	性	0.7	1	0.7	0.1
	学年 × 性	17.8	2	8.9	1.5
	誤差	1509.8	254	5.9
日本	学年	287.6	2	143.8	20.5	**
	性	12.1	1	12.1	1.7
	学年 × 性	1.5	2	0.7	0.1
	誤差	1883.1	269	7.0
				** p<.01, * p<.05

表７は，学年別及び性別に，気圧の平均得点を示したものである。表８の分散分析表に示すように，ドイツと日本のいずれにおいても，学年及び性の両方に有意差が見いだされた。

表７　気圧に関する知識の平均得点
	4-5学年				8-9学年				11-12学年				全体
	男	女	計	男		女	計	男		女	小計	男		女	計
ドイツ	8.7	7.6	8.2	9.8		8.8	9.4	10.8		10.1	10.5	9.6		8.6	9.1
N=	46	48	94	44		38	82	30		28	58	120		114	234
日本	6.8	6.6	6.7	10.3		9.6	10.0	10.3		9.0	9.8	9.0		8.3	8.7
N=	63	44	107	49		34	83	49		35	84	161		113	274

表８　気圧の平均得点に対する分散分析表
	要因	平方和	自由度	平均平方	F 値
ドイツ	学年	188.2	2	94.1	11.9	**
	性	47.2	1	47.2	6.0	*
	学年 × 性	1.8	2	0.9	0.1
	誤差	1802.9	228	7.9
日本	学年	602.0	2	301.0	34.0	**
	性	37.0	1	37.0	4.2	*
	学年 × 性	13.7	2	6.9	0.8
	誤差	2370.1	268	8.8
				** p<.01, * p<.05

表９は，学年別及び性別に，気圧の平均得点を示したものである。表10の分散分析表に示すように，両国の平均得点には学年と性の両方に有意差が見いだされた。

表９　金属に関する知識の平均得点
	4-5学年			8-9学年			11-12学年			全体
	男	女	計	男	女	計	男	女	小計	男	女	計
ドイツ	12.3	10.3	11.3	14.8	11.1	12.9	16.0	14.3	15.2	14.3	11.6	13.0
N=	37	39	76	34	33	67	32	27	59	103	99	202
日本	10.1	7.8	9.2	12.9	12.0	12.5	12.4	12.4	12.4	11.6	11.0	11.3
N=	60	38	98	46	38	84	34	58	92	140	134	274

表10　金属の平均得点に対する分散分析表
	要因	平方和	自由度	平均平方	F 値
ドイツ	学年	491.9	2	246.0	21.1	**
	性	306.3	1	306.3	26.3	**
	学年 × 性	37.5	2	18.8	1.6
	誤差	2279.8	196	11.6
日本	学年	722.4	2	361.2	25.3	**
	性	69.4	1	69.4	4.9	*
	学年 × 性	56.5	2	28.3	2.0
	誤差	3825.0	268	14.3
				** p<.01, *p<.05

　以上の結果から，授業が日常概念の精緻化に大きな影響を及ぼしているといえる。さらに，日常概念の精緻化は，性によって効果が異なることが示唆された。

3.3 知識と授業との連関

表11は，各設問の正答・誤答と授業での学習の有・無との関係を検討するために，両者の連関をφ係数で示したものである。この値が高いほど，授業で学習した場合は正答，学習していない場合は誤答となる結びつきが強いことを示している。栄養に関する問11の日本のφ係数は，0.60という高い値であった。これは授業で習ったものは正しく答え，習っていないものは間違えることが多かったことを表している。なお，正解φ係数の有意確率が５％以上の場合は，n.sで表した。

栄養概念の有意な連関の数は，ドイツが12項目，日本が17項目であった。一方，金属概念では，ドイツが19項目，日本が14項目であった。気圧に関しては，日独ほぼ同数であった。このことから，授業での取り扱われ方によって，概念の精緻化が異なることが示唆された。

表11　知識と授業とのφ係数
	栄養		気圧		金属
	ドイツ	日本	ドイツ	日本	ドイツ	日本
問１	n.s	0.30	n.s	n.s	0.19	n.s
問２	0.16	0.29	n.s	n.s	0.26	0.17
問３	0.40	0.43	0.19	0.22	0.23	n.s
問４	n.s	n.s	n.s	n.s	0.14	n.s
問５	0.20	0.23	0.20	0.15	n.s	-0.14
問６	n.s	0.13	n.s	0.14	n.s	0.17
問７	n.s	0.31	n.s	0.29	0.20	0.13
問８	n.s	0.25	0.16	0.15	0.15	0.17
問９	0.18	0.26	0.18	0.15	n.s	n.s
問10	n.s	n.s	0.21	n.s	n.s	n.s
問11	0.25	0.60	n.s	n.s	0.23	n.s
問12	0.26	0.47	0.23	n.s	0.13	0.15
問13	0.31	0.47	0.24	0.24	0.21	n.s
問14	0.26	0.28	0.32	0.30	0.30	n.s
問15	n.s	n.s	n.s	n.s	0.32	0.45
問16	n.s	0.39	n.s	0.15	0.28	0.42
問17	0.23	0.30	0.25	0.29	-	-
問18	0.50	0.40	n.s	0.32	0.27	0.34
問19	0.20	0.36	0.18	n.s	0.51	0.48
問20	0.17	0.42	0.23	0.28	n.s	n.s
問21	-	-	-	-	0.33	0.56
問22	-	-	-	-	n.s	n.s
問23	-	-	-	-	0.29	0.19
問24	-	-	-	-	0.14	n.s
問25	-	-	-	-	n.s	n.s
問26	-	-	-	-	n.s	0.18
問27	-	-	-	-	0.25	n.s
問28	-	-	-	-	n.s	0.26
問29	-	-	-	-	0.31	n.s

n.s p>.05

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　- 設問無し

3.4情報源について

表12～14は，概念に関する知識をどのような情報源から得たかを問うた結果を示したものである。情報源としては，両親，兄弟・姉妹，友人，本，雑誌，テレビ，CD-ROM，インターネット，その他の10項目が用意された。これらの情報源から複数回答で応答を求めた。

日独ともに，いずれの概念においても，両親，本，テレビが主たる情報源として選択されている。ドイツと日本の相違点としては，CD-ROMとインターネットの選択率が上げられよう。これらを知識の情報源として活用している割合は，いずれの概念においてもドイツの方が日本よりも高い値を示している。日本でも教育におけるITの活用が推進されているが，現実的には，未だ十分に活用されていないというのが現状である。

表12　栄養に関する情報源の選択率（％）							表13　気圧に関する情報源の選択率（％）
	ドイツ			日本				ドイツ			日本
	4-5	8-9	11-12	4-5	8-9	11-12		4-5	8-9	11-12	4-5	8-9	11-12
両親	78.9	70.7	73.8	65.3	62.5	57.8		60.2	51.2	46.7	46.7	24.4	17.3
兄弟・姉妹	21.9	12.0	11.7	13.9	12.5	8.9		17.2	11.0	10.0	12.2	13.4	1.2
友人	19.3	19.6	32.0	7.9	18.2	18.9		10.8	15.9	10.0	5.6	14.6	7.4
本	50.0	50.0	55.3	57.4	76.1	44.4		39.8	43.9	36.7	35.6	46.3	38.3
雑誌	28.1	50.0	64.1	11.9	27.3	23.3		19.4	11.0	30.0	3.3	8.5	11.1
テレビ	39.5	66.3	74.8	64.4	87.5	80.0		59.1	52.4	71.7	61.1	61.0	61.7
ＣＤ－Ｒｏｍ	15.8	10.9	5.8	1.0	1.1	0.0		11.8	15.9	3.3	0.0	3.7	0.0
インターネット	16.7	12.0	22.3	6.9	12.5	0.0		12.9	18.3	15.0	6.7	8.5	1.2
その他	45.6	53.3	29.1	23.8	21.6	20.0		20.4	57.4	35.0	10.0	37.8	35.8
N=	114	92	103	101	88	90		93	82	60	90	82	81

表14　金属に関する情報源の選択率（％）
	ドイツ			日本
	4-5	8-9	11-12	4-5	8-9	11-12
両親	65.8	54.4	36.6	48.5	40.7	26.7
兄弟・姉妹	18.4	17.8	4.9	16.2	16.3	4.4
友人	16.7	17.8	13.4	10.1	15.1	8.9
本	44.7	52.2	46.3	58.6	43.0	42.2
雑誌	18.4	31.1	20.7	9.1	15.1	7.8
テレビ	50.9	65.6	54.9	60.6	82.6	56.7
ＣＤ－Ｒｏｍ	7.0	18.9	12.2	2.0	1.2	0.0
インターネット	11.4	24.4	11.0	7.1	14.0	2.2
その他	13.2	31.1	51.2	18.2	27.9	40.0
N=	114	90	82	99	86	90

附録１　栄養のKSテスト

物　語

　ミドリさんが病院に運ばれました。彼女は学校で突然気を失い，倒れました。何が起こったのか，だれも分かりませんでした。彼女の同級生はとても驚き，どうしてミドリさんが倒れたのかを話し合いました。ケンジ君は，「ミドリさんがきちんと栄養を取っていなかったからだ」と言いました。ミドリさんはいつも果物しか食べていませんでした。彼女はダイエットをしていました。ケイ子さんは「ウソー，ミドリさんはちゃんと普通に食べていましたよ」と言い返しました。

話の続き（問題）	左の意見は正しいですか			授業で習いましたか
話の続き（問題）	正しい	間違っている	分からない	は　い	いいえ
問１　ケイ子：「それに何を食べようと関係ないでしょう。それよりもたくさん食べることのほうが大事なのよ。」
問２　ケンジは反対して：「とんでもない。果物や野菜の他に，パンやバター，肉などを食べることが必要です。それが，正しい栄養のとり方だよ。」
問３　ケンジはさらに言いました。「どんな生き物でも，動物はもちろん，植物や菌類，細菌でさえも栄養をとっています。」

　それを聞いて笑い出す人がいました。一人が質問しました。「植物や菌類，細菌のどこに口があると言うのですか。」それについてのみんなの意見は分かれました。ケンジ君は，人間の栄養の話しに戻してい言いました。

問４　「料理はできる限り煮たり，焼いたり，揚げたりして熱を加えなければいけません。生野菜などはとても消化しにくく，胃腸に負担がかかるるんだよ。」

ケンジ君はさらに言いました。「だれが何と言おうとも，私たちは牛や羊とは違うんだよ。」みんなどっと笑いました。そのうち一人がかわいそうなミドリさんのことを思い出して言いました。「彼女はどうなるのかしら？」最後は，ミドリさんが病院から戻ったら，どのように栄養をとっていたのかを，彼女に直接たずねようとことで話は終わりました。

次は，『栄養』に関するより深い知識の質問

栄養についての理解問題	左の文章は正しいですか			授業で習いましたか
栄養についての理解問題	正しい	間違っている	わからない	は　い	いいえ
問５　栄養は，新陳代謝とも呼ばれる。
問６栄養と消化は同じ意味である。
問７　食べものには栄養素が含まれている。
問８　人間は食べ物なしでもしばらくの間は生きていくことはできるが，水なしではそうはいかない。
問９　水は重要な栄養素である。
問10　栄養素とは，炭水化物とタンパク質，脂質（脂肪）のことをいいます。それらはエネルギーをたくさん含んでいるからである。
問11　正しく言うと，栄養素にはビタミンと無機質も含まれる。その理由は，それらは体を維持するためになくてはならないからである。
問12　食事は，細胞呼吸のためのエネルギーを得るために大切である。
問13　食事は，体が大きくなるための材料を得るために大切である。
問14　脂質は，同じ重量のタンパク質や炭水化物の３倍のエネルギーを含んでいる。
問15　完全に休息している状態で人間に必要なエネルギー量は，１時間で体重１キロ当たり，４０キロジュールぐらいである。
問16　砂糖は力の源であり，体によいものである。
問17　保存食品は，生鮮食料品よりも体によい。理由は，熱を加えて調理されて，殺菌されているからである。
問18　一般に，人間の栄養には次の規則が当てはまる。かたよった食べ物しかとらないよりも，たくさんの種類の食べ物をとる方がよい。
問19　全世界の半数以上の人が，現在，栄養が足りなかったりあるいは多すぎたりする不適切な状態にある。
問20　高等植物（花，草，木）の栄養は，ただ単に大地から無機質水をとることである。

附録２　気圧のKSテスト

物　語

　太郎君と花子さんは，お父さん，お母さんといっしょに旅行に出かけました。ハイキングを楽しみ，登山電車に乗って3000メートル級の山に登りました。そのとき太郎君と花子さんは，おかしなことを体験しました。登山電車に乗っている間ずっと耳鳴りがしていたのです。また，半分ほど飲みかけのペットボトルとまだ封を切っていないポテトチップスの袋が丸々と膨らんでいました。お父さんは，これらの現象にはすべて気圧が関係しているのだよ，と説明してくれました。

　登山の翌日は雨でした。太郎君と花子さんは，ホテルで「気圧」に関する問題を作りました。ちょっと，その問題を見てみましょう。

話の続き（問題）	左の意見は正しいですか			授業で習いましたか
話の続き（問題）	正しい	間違っている	わからない	は　い	いいえ
問１　耳鳴りは，気圧が急に下がったときにだけ起こる。
問２　耳鳴りは，気圧が急に上がったときにだけ起こる。
問３　高い山に登れば登るほど，高さに応じて気圧が高くなる。
問４　話しに出てきたペットボトルとポテトチップスの袋は，標高が上がって中の気圧が大きくなって膨らんだ。
問５　もしもペットボトルに中身が全部詰まっていたならば，ペットボトルが膨らむことはなかった。

こんなふうに問題は続きますが，ここであなた方にもう少し上級の質問をしたいと思います。ただし，あなた方が気圧についてよく知っているのであれば，それらの質問に確実に答えることができるでしょう。

次は，『気圧』に関するより深い知識の質問

気圧についての知識	左の文章は正しいですか			授業で習いましたか
気圧についての知識	正しい	間違っている	わからない	は　い	いいえ
問６　自転車や車のタイヤの空気圧は，ポンプで空気を中に送り込んだり，バルブ（弁）を調節して放出したりして，簡単に変えることができる。
問７　ストローでジュースを飲むことは，周りの気圧と関係がある。
問８ストローでジュースを飲むことは，周りの気圧とまったく関係がなく，口で吸い込む力に関係する。
問９　私たちが普段使っている「吸い上げポンプ」という言い方，正確に言うと間違っている。その時ポンプは何かを吸い込んでいるのではなく，押し込まれているのである。
問10　今ある空気に外部からの空気が合わさって押されたときに気圧が生じる。
問11　気圧は空気の組成に左右される。
問12　湿度計を使えば，簡単に住んでいるところの気圧を測ることができる。
問13　地球を取り巻く大気圏は均一であるから，どこで測定しようとも，気圧も同じである。
問14　空気の重さによって，圧力は変化する。
問15立方メートルの空気の重さは１グラムである。
問16　サッカーボールの中の空気圧は，中に入っている空気の量とボールの表面積との商によって決まる。
問17　密閉された容器内の空気圧は，その容器の底面積と中の空気の分子の数によって決まる。
問18　海抜０メートルでの気圧は，０℃のとき，１気圧である。1000ヘクトパスカルあるいは7.5 トルともいう。
問19　液体の中とは異なり，空気の中では浮力は働かない。
問20　テレビのブラウン管が割れるのは，中の空気が爆発するためである。

附録３　金属のKSテスト

物　語

　一郎君と大輔君はとても冒険好きです。二人は，アメリカでの金採掘の本を読みました。でも，アメリカはとても遠く，離れたところにあるので，簡単に行くことはできません。そこで，二人は，近所に数年前に作られたごみ捨て場で金を探すことを考えつきました。

物語の続き	左の意見は正しいですか			授業で習いましたか
	正しい	間違っている	わからない	は　い	いいえ
問１　だがしかし，金は貴金属（高価な金属）なので，それをごみ捨て場で見つけるのは難しいだろうというのが，大輔君の意見でした。
その一方で，大輔君はお母さんの銀のアクセサリーを思い出しました。銀のアクセサリーをしばらく放っておくとすぐに黒ずんでしまいます。銀ならば，最後にはごみ捨て場行きだろうと思いました。
問２　だったら，銀は貴金属ではない，と一郎君は言い返しました。
二人は，金だけではなくて，とりあえずは金属一般を探すことにしました。大輔君は，金属ならば次の条件を備えていると考えました。
問３　金属は，とても固い。
問４　金属は，とても重い。
問５　金属には，強い光沢がある。
問６　金属には，ひんやりとした冷たさを感じる。
問７　一郎君は，最初のうちはこれらの条件に賛成しましたが，すべての金属がとても固いとは言えないと，考え直しました。
問８　また，すべての金属がとても重いとは言えない。
問９　また，すべての金属が強い光沢をもつとは言えない。
問10　また，すべての金属がひんやりとした冷たさを感じるとは言えない。
問11　それだったら，まず引っ掻き傷を作り，軽くぬらして，しばらく放っておき，そこがさびるかどうかを調べてみることが必要だと，大輔君は言いました。
問12　一郎君は，またしても大輔君の意見に反対しました。すべての金属がさびるわけではないと言いました。
問13　磁石の性質を持っているならば，それは金属です。一郎君は，磁石で調べることを重視しました。
問14　たとえば，金属は磁石に引き寄せられるけれども，金属以外の物質は引き寄せられない。
問15　ほかにも，金属を見つけ出すよい方法があります。一郎君は，電気伝導性のテストを思いつきました。金属ならば，電気をよく通します。
問16　なるほど，電線には，電流をよく通すために，細い金属線の束が入っています。

　問17　一郎君は，磁石を用意しました。また，小さな電池を使って，電気伝導性を調べるための器具を作りました。一方，大輔君は，物体に傷をつけるためのヤスリと湿った布を手に入れ，さびの実験の準備をしました。金属を探し出す方法としては，二人の方法のうち，どちらがよりすぐれているでしょうか。

　　　　　　一郎　・　大輔　　（どちらかに○をつけなさい。）

次は，『金属』に関するより深い知識の質問

金属についての意見	左の意見は正しいですか			授業で習いましたか
金属についての意見	正しい	間違っている	わからない	は　い	いいえ
問18　銀は電気を通しにくい。
問19　金属の典型的な性質は，特別な原子の結びつきによる。
問20上の原子の結びつきは，外から自由電子を受け入れ，格子の中の原子が一つにまとまることによって起こる。
問21　金属中の電気の流れは，電子の流れである。
問22　温度の上昇とともに，金属の電気伝導性は高まる。
問23　自然界では，金属が純粋な形で存在することはめったにない。ほとんどは非金属と結合した形で存在している。
問24　鉄がさびることの本質は，酸素と水によって鉄が水酸化鉄になる反応である。
問25　合金は，高い圧力の下で，２種類の異なる金属を結合させたものである。
問26　虫歯の治療に用いられた２種類の異なる金属の詰め物がガルバーニ電池になる。
問27　そのガルバーニ電池によって，有害な金属イオンが生じる。
問28　アルカリ金属とアルカリ土類金属もある。それらの金属が酸化することで水を失い，アルカリ溶液が作られる。
問29　アルカリ金属とアルカリ土類金属は，本当の意味での金属ではない。（理由を書きなさい。）（　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　）

附録４　栄養の情報源（ＫＳテストの後半部分）

あなたは知識をどこから手に入れましたか

申し立て		はい	いいえ	確かではない
１	私は，すでに授業で栄養について学習しました。
２	私たちは，授業で栄養について話し合ったことがありますが，私には理解できませんでした。
３	私たちはすでに授業で栄養について習いました。しかし，私は理解していません。
４	私たちはすでに授業で栄養について習いました。しかし，私はほとんど忘れてしまいました。
５	私は授業で学んだ栄養についての知識と同じくらいは，すでに授業以外で手に入れていました。
６	私はまだ栄養について詳しく学習していません。
７	栄養は興味深いテーマです。私は栄養についてもっと知りたい。
８	栄養のテーマは自然科学的には興味深いテーマだと思いますが，生活には役に立たないと思います。
９	栄養については，私は関心がありません。しかし，日常生活でおおいに役に立つのは確かです。
10	栄養についての知識など無くても生活には困りません。実際，知識がなくてもこうして生きています。
11	栄養についての私の知識は，多くを次のものから得ました。（知識を得たものに○をつけてください。当てはまるものが無いときには括弧の中に，それを書いてください。）　両親（父親・母親）　　兄弟姉妹　　　友人　　　本　　　雑誌　　　テレビ　ＣＤ－Ｒｏｍ　　　インターネット別の情報源（　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　）

　気圧と金属についても同様の設問が実施された。なお，本稿では，問１～10の結果はページ数の関係で省略した。

Ⅱ. Science Teaching in Germany

Ⅲ. Investigations with Association and Definition Tests

Concept

Grade

Nutrition

Germany

Japan

Nutrition

Nutrition

Air pressure

Metal

Section from short story

Section from statements on metal

Section from personal statements